Last weekend I had an Aerial Photo shoot with my good friend Curtis Wilson. He is car sales man for Rick Case dealerships in Gwinnett County and as any good salesman, he was able to sell the dealership on this aerial photography shoot.
We had been trying to schedule this shoot around his time off from the dealership but the weather was not having it. We had tried on 4 occasions to go up but it was raining, overcast or too windy. This last Sunday the weather for the first time was beautiful. It was about 78 degrees without a cloud in the sky. I met Curtis at Lawrenceville Briscoe Field around 11am and waited as he performed his preflight checks. Either way I needed to dial in my Canon 5D Mark II and get the appropriate lens for battle. I decided to use my sigma 70-200 Zoom lens and set aside my wide angle just in case I needed a wider frame.
While I waited on Curtis there was a single engine airplane circling the airport with a cable and hook setup for banner towing. I was able to get HD video of this interesting procedure where the plane would drop very close to the ground only to pull up very hard at the last minute applying full power. This particular plane was towing a Great Clips banner.
Curtis was able to get clearance from air traffic control and we were on our way. The flight was very smooth and you could see for miles. Downtown Atlanta and Stone Mountain were clearly visible from the 85 and 316 connector. It did not take long before we found the dealerships were had set out to photograph. First we captured Rick Case Kia off of Pleasant Hill. The remaining 4 dealerships were all in a row Rick Case Hyundai (the under construction location), Rick Case Hyundai (the temporary dealership), Rick Case Audi, and Rick Case Mazda. The entire shoot ended up with about 90 images the client would have access through my online fulfillment site.
After we got all the necessary photos of the dealership we flew north over Lake Lanier and around the Buford/Hall County area. I was able to get some aerial shots of the Buford High School and it appears to be continually groaning. What a beautiful campus they have from the sky. There were some very nice homes in a gated community that I was also able to get photos of. I capped the shoot off with some video footage of Curits flying and landing at Briscoe Field. I am always impressed with Curtis’s pilot abilities. Very professional and the attention to detail always appreciated.
